>>13316147>>13315841So the fundamental risk lies in this Wolf Amendment, and what it means to cooperate with China with respect to joint missions or information sharing, etc. How do you safeguard geopolitical power projection, whilst simultaneously maintaining your own orbital and extra orbital superiority while simultaneously working with the fact that every 2 to 4 years, your mission objectives will be blocked, denied, or uprooted by a different party that comes into power--when the country that you're sharing info with will just laugh at your face and keep on trucking. Eventually, they WILL overtake us (if their science and metallurgy programs for aerospace are modernized via information sharing), and then we're in deep deep shit.
The adage "keep you friends close and your enemies closer" only applies, if you (as a whole (in this case the us government)) is functional and operates in the best interest of the country. The current political situation in the US is fucked in more ways than one. The aftermath of Trump, the January 6th event, and ongoing filibustering and legislative gridlock that is persisting in the US, all are colossal roadblocks for the US that need to be overcome for the Wolf Amendment to not be necessary. Otherwise, in the interest of the country's own sovereignty and to prevent China from overtaking the US in orbital and extra orbital projection, the amendment likely has to be made permanent.
UNFORTUNATELY. Even if we do this, ESA, JAXA, and ROSCOSMOS are not bound by that. IT, only applies to US. So even if we as a nation decide "that's a no from me dawg," China can just go to the other parties and hash out agreements to help them modernize.
This is one of those fucked if you do, fucked if you don't situations; a perfect storm, a catch-22. We won't truly know the ramifications of thus until it happens and many years pass. But China is 100% committed in catching up to the US. They're already copying the Starship, albeit at a smaller scale.
